Sweets illustrated Blog

Pâte Sucrée

Earlier this year I was given the opportunity to compete in Top Local Chef. That equates to: I went crazy researching and testing recipes for about a week. That equates to: My kitchen is in shambles and I'm speaking to no one. Ever. "It's okay to be cranky and destroy your kitchen for the sake of winning." -Me.

Pâte Sucrée ended up being one of my favorite components, so I'm using it again for my fall desserts.

It is different from pie dough because it contains eggs, it is traditionally sweet, and it's mixed as if it were a cookie, however, can be used in the same manner. I don't think you'll mind the extra steps because it's such a stable dough and it looks oh so pretty.

With diet armageddon [AKA "the holidays"] fast approaching, you'll want this recipe in your baking arsenal. You can literally fill it with all of the sweet and pretty things! Also, you can appear fancy at all of your parties. That is, after all, the most important part of the holiday season. Kidding. But, you can be all like, hey guys, I have pumpkin pie filling in a delicious Pâte Sucrée tart shell and I don't care if I'm spelling it right because: fancy pumpkin pastry. Not kidding.

This set has crushed pretzels inside of the dough. It's drizzled with a caramelized strawberry sauce and is then filled with fresh berries and coulis.

Pâte Sucrée

150 g Unsalted Butter

112 g Sugar

50 g Eggs

250 g AP Flour - Sifted

Vanilla to taste

Cream Butter and Sugar until creamy and free of lumps.

Scrape bowl. Add Eggs on low speed. Combine completely.

Add Flour. Mix just long enough to combine.

Place dough on plastic wrap. Shape into a flattened circle, or desired shape.

Chill at least 45 minutes.

Roll on a well floured surface.

Place desired filling into prepared shell.

I took my remaining dough and made tiny thumb print shells, that I pressed into a cupcake pan. I filled those with various fillings, such as pumpkin, cherry, apple, chocolate ganache. The possibilities are really endless!

This recipe came from one of my fancy schmancy recipe books and I can't recall which one at the moment. Luckily, I have a very organized system for my recipes, known as the "shuffle til you find it" system, so I was able to share it with all of you. If you make it, let me know how it turned out and what you did with it!